Every November I do the same closet purge, and every November I list everything on whichever app I opened last. This year I finally ran the numbers first. I took three real things from my “doesn’t spark anything” pile (a $40 sweater, a $12 top and a $120 bag) and worked out what I’d actually keep from each. On Poshmark the fees came to $34.95. On Depop they came to $7.81. Same clothes, same prices, a $27 difference before anyone has even made an offer.
So if you’re wondering where to sell clothes online for a little holiday cash, the app you choose matters more than shaving a few dollars off your asking price. Here’s what I found, and the tax worry you can probably cross off your list.
December is a good month to sell secondhand
Timing is on your side right now. Retail Dive’s coverage of ThredUp’s 2026 Resale Report notes that shoppers in an earlier GlobalData and ThredUp survey planned to spend about 40% of their 2025 holiday gift budgets on used items. The same report says US secondhand apparel grew roughly four times faster than the overall clothing market in 2025, and projects it reaching $78.8 billion by 2030.
That means buyers are out there in December, and plenty of them are shopping for gifts. A cashmere sweater with the tags still on or a barely carried bag is exactly what they want. It’s also why I don’t think it pays to sit on your pile until a January clean-out. You’d be listing into the post-holiday lull and competing with everyone’s unwanted gifts.
Poshmark’s flat 20% is the most expensive way to sell a mid-priced sweater
Poshmark charges a flat $2.95 on sales under $15 and 20% on anything $15 or more. That’s per Vendoo’s seller guide, last updated in February 2026. The buyer pays shipping, so your 20% comes straight off the item price.
Depop scrapped its 10% selling fee for US sellers in July 2024, according to its own fee change announcement. You still pay payment processing of 3.3% plus 45 cents, figured on the whole transaction including shipping and tax. Buyers now pay a marketplace fee of up to 5% plus up to $1 on their side.
eBay’s selling fee page lists a final value fee of 13.6% for most categories, including most clothing, plus 40 cents per order over $10 (30 cents at $10 or less). Women’s bags and handbags are higher at 15%. eBay calculates that percentage on the total sale amount, shipping included.
The worked math: my $172 closet clean-out, three ways
For this I assumed each buyer pays $8 for shipping, which is roughly what these apps charge, and left sales tax out to keep it simple. Tax would nudge the Depop and eBay fees up a little.
On Poshmark, the $40 sweater costs me 20%, or $8, so I keep $32. The $12 top falls under $15 and gets the flat $2.95, so I keep $9.05. That’s almost 25% of the price. The $120 bag costs $24, leaving $96. Total fees are $34.95 and I take home $137.05.
On Depop, the sweater’s fee is 3.3% of $48 (price plus shipping), which is $1.58, plus 45 cents, for $2.03. I keep $37.97. The top is 3.3% of $20 plus 45 cents, or $1.11, so I keep $10.89. The bag is 3.3% of $128 plus 45 cents, which is $4.67, leaving $115.33. Total fees are $7.81 and I take home $164.19.
On eBay, the sweater’s fee is 13.6% of $48 plus 40 cents, so $6.93, and I keep $33.07. The top is 13.6% of $20 plus 40 cents, or $3.12, leaving $8.88. That’s the worst result of the three for a cheap item. The bag lands in the 15% handbag category: 15% of $128 is $19.20, plus 40 cents makes $19.60, and I keep $100.40. Total fees are $29.65 and I take home $142.35.
Out of $172 of asking prices, the gap between the best and worst app is $27.14. To make up that much on Poshmark, I’d have to list everything about 20% higher and hope nobody sent a lowball offer. Which they would.
Where to sell clothes online depends on who’s shopping, and the fee comes second
I don’t want to oversell Depop here. A 3.3% fee on a sweater nobody buys still leaves you with a sweater. Each app has its own crowd. Depop skews younger and leans vintage and Y2K. Poshmark has a deep pool of buyers searching mall brands and workwear. eBay has the broadest reach for designer pieces and odd items, and its search often brings in buyers who don’t use the other two at all.
My rule after doing this: list on the cheapest app where your item’s buyer actually shops. If your bag is a contemporary label that Poshmark buyers search for by name, a 20% fee that actually sells it this week beats a 3.3% fee that sells nothing. For under-$15 basics, though, Poshmark’s flat $2.95 eats a quarter of the sale, and a bundle or a local sale makes more sense.
And whatever you do, don’t let a slow listing push you into a big markdown. If something hasn’t moved in two weeks, take a better photo before you cut the price. (I covered more on what’s worth reselling in my Earth Day closet clean-out, and my cashmere cost-per-wear breakdown explains why a good knit holds its resale value better than you might expect.)
The 1099-K scare is mostly over for closet sellers
A couple of years ago, a lot of us panicked about the $600 Form 1099-K threshold. That’s no longer the rule. In October 2025 the IRS issued FAQs confirming that the One, Big, Beautiful Bill restored the old threshold, retroactively. Payment platforms don’t have to send you a 1099-K unless you get more than $20,000 in payments and more than 200 transactions.
A casual closet clean-out isn’t going to hit both. The form was never what decided your taxes anyway. Selling your own clothes for less than you paid generally isn’t taxable income, though you can’t deduct the loss either. If you’re flipping thrift finds for profit, that’s a business, and it’s taxable whether or not a 1099 shows up. Ask a tax pro if you’re anywhere near that line.
List by price tier this weekend, before gift shoppers log off
So here’s where I landed on where to sell clothes online before Christmas. Anything that fits Depop’s crowd goes there first because the fees are lowest. Mall brands and workwear go to Poshmark, but only at $15 and up. Anything branded and pricey that I want in front of the most buyers goes to eBay. I’m listing this weekend, not in January, while gift shoppers are still browsing.
If you only take one thing from my spreadsheet, make it this: figure out the fee before you set the price. On my pile, picking the app was worth $27, which is about what I’d have gotten from selling one more sweater.